Why did Nitish Kumar walk out of the NDA? Three explanations have been offered. The first is Nitish’s own version. He says that he cannot be part of an alliance whose effective prime ministerial candidate is Narendra Modi, who Nitish regards as anti-Muslim and divisive. Read more

What does the Twitter battle between Congress and BJP supporters over Narendra Modi’s speech to the FICCI ladies organisation tell us? Quite a lot, actually. Here are some of the major conclusions. Read more

The debate over Narendra Modi’s aborted address at Wharton seems new and top of the mind. But actually, it is almost as old as the principle of free speech itself. And it is a debate that has been played out year after year in university after university since time immemorial. Read more

I don’t know if you saw the results of the Headlines Today poll on the Gujarat Assembly election. The poll was conducted a couple of weeks ago and the results were released on October 4. The election is still some time away and the pollsters did their work before the campaign got into full swing. So yes, it is possible to argue that these responses – and therefore, the results – are premature and that things will change significantly between now and election day. Read more

How can you tell when a government is in crisis? There are the obvious ways, I suppose. You can tell that a government is in trouble when it is on the verge of losing its majority. When its coalition appears to be cracking up. When its MPs begin to revolt. And so on. Read more

Let me say, straight out, that I do not accept the basic distinction that Amitabh Bachchan is trying to make between being a brand ambassador for Gujarat and a brand ambassador for Narendra Modi. Read more

My son is taking his final exam for the International Baccalaureate. As part of the exam, students who opt for the Theory of Knowledge paper, have o do a short presentation on a topic of contemporary relevance.

According to my son, one of the best presentations in his school this year was on the subject of media coverage of the Bombay attacks. Had the media been too sensationalistic? Had they helped the terrorists? That sort of thing. Read more